The Unknown Hero
by Furiouswind
Summary: Set after the second game, the lone hero who accompanied the others and fought in the war left quietly to find a true end to the Knights. But soon an old enemy resurfaces and the fate of the World rest on the young ones who will walk the steps of Heroes
1. Chapter 1

A/N: You know, i'm already writing so many different stories that i shouldn't be posting this. But i was tempted to write this after i took out my White Knight Chronicles 2 from the box i shipped over when i came home from overseas. It's been... what, a year since i played the second game? And it did not occur to me about writing this story until now. Well, i'm still writing my Angel Beats! story but got stuck for awhile. This is a good time killer, i guess.

Anyway, since this story is after the second game in the series, it is essentially a **_SPOILER _**don't say i didn't warn you.**_  
_**

So anyway, things i will not explain much in story but are necessary to know.

SPOILERS!

- My Avatar is female, so don't shout or send hate mail

- I really hate the Ark-Knights, i mean, look at the Sin-Knights, they are all so cool! And what, the Ark Knight looks like a pawn class Zaku, just cannon fodder. Plus, i am pissed trying to get the colour and armour parts that i want for my ark knight. It is really pissing me off.

- At the end of the second game, Madoras is still alive and he revived some ancient city in the middle of a mountain range. I am placing this mountain range somewhere far away, so the main characters do not know that Madoras is back.

- Since the Black Knight's contractor died at the end, i will assume that Kara did not get her black knight back.

- I will be using both Japanese romanji and English translations for my story, so if you get mixed up, just guess. I played the Japanese versions, so i'll be using them more often. (though sometimes i mix, like Erudoa or Eldore mixes together to form Eldoa)

- Personally, i am pissed that the English translations took out the Japanese voices. Really, I. AM. DISAPPOINTED. You can't take out Sakamoto Maaya's voice and just think it's alright. And with number 2, don't take out Rie's voice. Really, it messes the game up.

* * *

_White Knight Chronicles_

_The Unknown Hero_

_Chapter 1_

_End of the Beginning_

"Are you really sure about this?"

Turning around and seeing the group of familiar worried faces. A nod to the question.

"But won't you reconsider it? What you're planning to do is just suicidal!"

"Yuri, let it go. You know better than anyone else that this has to be done. Isn't that right?"

He asked. Another nod with a sad smile.

"But still! Why does it have to be you? ! Why can't we go with you?"

"Because it is we, the ones who have been tangled so deeply into this affair, who need to be saved. We are unable to do anything, and therefore have no choice but to leave it up to our dear friend here."

"Eldoa! I can't believe i'm hearing this from you!"

"It isn't as though this will be the last time we'll be seeing each other, right?"

The elderly man asked. Hesitant, but a slight nod to confirm.

"... Fine. I will not say anymore. You're all so thick-headed! And you! You better come back! Promise?"

A smile was the only reply.

"Alright, alright. This isn't the time for sad goodbyes. We should all be happy! To send off our friend with such a depressing mood would only make things worse, come on! Let's all be merry!"

"Caesar, you say some very weird things... but they do have merit."

"I don't want to hear that from you, Shizuna-sama."

"But don't you find it strange? That even though it is our problem, we are the ones who are unable to do anything about this."

"We cannot seal the Knights ourselves, and we are unable to travel back to the other realm after Madoras' defeat. Only our friend here is able to do so, being the one who isn't tied by the fate of the

Knights."

"No... it is fate. Though you may not know it, you are tied more tightly to the Knights than any one of us are. It is not coincidence that brought you to us. Perhaps you were meant to do this."

The elderly man said. A slightly curious look turned to a smile and a nod.

"A fate that was intertwined with ours... I see. Maybe that is the way things were meant to be."

A shake of the head.

"No? I guess not... It was not that things were meant to be this way, but rather we made it so, isn't that right?"

A nod to answer.

"You're being too formal, Kara!"

"W-what's wrong with that?"

"Nothing, since you're going to marry the mayor of Greede soon."

"Why does that sound like sarcasm from you, Yuri?"

"It was meant to be a compliment. By the way, you'll be missing the wedding. Are you sure you cannot stay till then?"

Shaking the head.

"I see... Well, try to come back as soon as possible. Hm? Lenard! Say something! You two were employees of the same company, right?"

She pushed him forward. After stumbling for a moment, the young man scratched the back of his head, unsure of what to say. No, it was not that he did not know what to say, but rather he did not

want to say it.

"We've been through so much, you know? Though you may not be a Knight contractor, but you have stood by us, fought with us and been through so much with us..."

"Lenard-"

"But why? ! Why do you have to do this? This is suicidal! We do not know what lies beyond those portals! To take on all of the burden by yourself when we, the ones who are bound to it, are unable to do

anything! Look at what happened to me! Being possessed by Madoras and nearly destroying everything! That was only a fragment within the White Knight, so who knows what may be lurking in the others!

You cannot hope to seal or contain any of the Knights when we couldn't! Why... why must this end up like this..."

"Lenard, we do not have any choice in this. And besides it is not like we all wanted this."

"Yuri! Why do you accept it so easily now? Weren't you also against this?"

"... I still am, but there is nothing we can do, can we?"

"This-... this isn't right. This cannot be right at all."

"There are times when you need to learn when to accept these things. You are now a General of the Balandor army, as well as being the Queen's escort."

"Eldoa!"

The young man wanted to protest but bit his lip.

"... I guess i still do not want to accept it."

"Accept it or not, it is something that is going to happen. Isn't that right? You're not the type of person who would stop even if the entire World was against you."

A young woman stepped forward. Wanting to bow but was stopped by her.

"You don't need to do that. You are a hero, a saviour of this Kingdom and this entire World. But most importantly, you are a friend to us all. There is no need to be formal when it is just us."

"Shizuna-sama is right... still, speaking of which, are you sure you don't want a large farewell?"

The man in dreadlocks asked. A shake of the head.

"You're always never one to take the spotlight. I guess this type of farewell suits you most."

A smile to reply him.

"A silent farewell for one of the heroes of the Dogma war. What an ironic statement."

"Too bad Miu could not join us. Yugara-sama has been sensing trouble in the forests so she has been busy dealing with that problem, but she still sent her regards and wishes you the best of luck. Here,

she gave you this."

The short haired young girl handed a small silver pendant that had a strange indentation in the middle of it surrounded by intricate designs.

"That... is for holding my gift."

The other young woman said, walking up and handing a small deep blue crystal. Looking at the crystal, being able to feel a strange sense of nostalgia flowing from it.

"It is a sacred stone that was given to me by my mother before she passed away. I had been pouring my magical reserves into it unknowingly during the dogma war, but it should not be anything dangerous.

I want you to have it to remind you of where you came from, and that you would always be welcomed home."

Smiling and mouthing a word of 'thanks', before slotting the stone into the indentation of the pendant.

"Well, it is time for you to go. Soon, the people would be waking up."

A nod, turning to the horse and climbing onto the saddle.

"Come back soon, alright?"

A hesitant smile, before pulling the reigns and urging the horse forward. Riding out of the gates and soon gone from sight.

"... We can only pray. Pray and hope that nothing happens."

* * *

Bringing up the sword the parry, but was too late. The claw swung down and caused a deep gash across the shoulder. Staggering back, falling to one knee. Losing focus as enemies started to surround

completely. No place to run, was this the end? No, it wasn't. Clutching onto the pendant, one last ray of hope. Will return home. To where everyone was. Reaching in the pouch, pulling out a small ancient

device. The power of the ancients flowed freely into the body, giving strength that was once lost. A smile crept on the lips. Will return, will fight to go back. With the power of the ark-knight in hand,

a smile formed on the bloodied lips.

"... Hen... shin."

* * *

A/N: In case you're wondering, 'hen shin' is the Japanese word for 'transform'. It sounds much better than... what does the English one have? Veto? What is that? Sounds like the name of a television cable network.


	2. Chapter 2

_White Knight Chronicles_

_The Unknown Hero_

_Chapter 2_

_Legends Laid to Rest_

**Many years later**

"Did you hear?"

"You mean about the assassination attempt?"

"Yeah! That one!"

"I heard about it! It seems that they weren't after the King and Queen, but rather they were searching for something."

"You mean they were merely thieves?"

"Well, since they were found by the King himself, and they attacked him, i guess you could call it an assassination attempt."

"It is a good thing our King hasn't lost his touch from the civil uprising war."

"What about the dear princess? Is she alright?"

"I'm sure she's fine. The King's more protective over his daughter than a Windwalker is about his bag of gas."

"So, are they alright? What about the festival?"

"They're fine. They're scheduled to give a speech tonight, so it seems the Princess's birthday will proceed as planned."

"Still, what do you think those thieves wanted?"

"Not sure..."

* * *

The king was rather irritated by this, clearly evident from his constant tapping of his finger on the arm rest till there was a slight indentation in the wood. Next to him, his Queen was rather worried by

his actions.

"... Don't you think you're over-thinking this?"

"How could you not? First our guards allowed a security risk like those thieves to enter the castle, then it's our daughter's birthday, then some idiot decides that making the entire news go out of proportion! Oh, and did i mention it was our daughter's birthday?"

The Queen sighed, shaking her head in dismay. Her husband has been going at it for nearly an hour.

"Yes, dear, you mentioned it twice."

She replied as calmly as possible. With his impatience, her patience was running thin as well.

"Why don't you relax? It's our daughter's birthday, so we should be joyful and merry-"

"I will be happy when the last of those damn idiots who call themselves 'suitors' get out of the Kingdom!"

Overprotective father, typical of him. Well, it was not that she hated that part of him.

"Our daughter is already at an age to marry. If you're not going to be ready to let go, then how will our daughter be able to grow up?"

"SHE DOESN'T NEED TO GROW UP!"

"... Are you seriously saying that? Even Cyrus would not say something that stupid."

The King wanted to shout something again, but hesitated and held himself back. It did not take much to set him off, but it did not take long to cool him off either.

"... I will only allow her to marry someone who is stronger than me and Cyrus."

He muttered in defiance.

"No one in this Kingdom is stronger than you or Cyrus. Cyrus, being the head of state, and you being the old hero of the wars. Only a few people can actually beat you in a fair fight, and almost all of

them are already married, or too old."

"Hmph, i still will not allow anyone weak to fight me."

The Queen sighed once more and shook her head in utter disbelief that her husband could be this bull-headed.

"Nevermind you, i would surprised to find someone who can beat your own daughter. All because of you, she is stronger than most of the guards in the castle!"

"There's nothing wrong with that."

"There is! She's a girl, not to mention a princess, and she's only sixteen! Where else can you find a barbaric warrior princess who runs around everyday with the strength of a dragon who picks fights when she isn't running away from her tutors? !"

"Isn't that fine?"

"NO IT ISN'T!"

The Queen said with such ferocity and strength that the King was forced to agree with her. Not to mention that her growing aura of anger was starting to become a visible black spirit behind her back.

"O-okay..."

"Good."

The Queen smiled, her anger aura receding back.

"But still, what do you make of those thieves? As expected... they must be after-"

"Don't say any more than that. We decided not to go back to that topic after our daughter was born."

"... But you must be worried as well. It's been over twenty years since that day and still no word. The Knights still remain active, that must surely mean-"

"I said don't say anymore than that!"

The King slammed his fist down on the arm rest, clearly showing his anger and sadness behind this.

"... We can only assume that it ended in failure."

"I do not... will not believe it so. Our dear friend will come back. I swear it. That person never breaks a promise... I just know that everything has to be alright."

"... Lenard... You still cannot let go, can you?"

* * *

Sitting on the balcony railing, the young girl looked out into the town that spanned out below her. The festival preparations were still on-going, having halted because of that little incident with those trespassers. But it still looked like everything was on track for tonight. Not that she actually was looking forward to tonight. She had to accompany her parents and go around greeting nobles and important people for hours. Of course, she always looked forward to meeting the Mayor of Greede and his family.

The son, Grazel, was a rather interesting person to be around with too, though apparently his name was something her father and mother both expressed concerned for. As for what their concern was, she did not know nor did she bother to know. He was always a fun person to be around with. The other person she looked forward to meeting the Archduchess Miu, the leader of nation of the Faria had taken a special liking to the her and often accompanied her in some of her 'adventures'. Of course, there was some things that the Archduchess knew, thus preventing those 'adventures' from getting too out of hand. The sounds from below caught her attention, and upon looking down, she saw guards and maids running around frantically.

"Where is she?"

"I don't know! If the King finds out we lost sight of her again, I don't know what will happen to us!"

"Nevermind the King, I'm more afraid of what the Queen would do to us when she finds out that her daughter ran away from the tutors again!"

"... Best not to think of it. Search the garden! We found her there the last time!"

The guards and maids ran off once more. Of course she wasn't in the garden, and yes, she knew who they were talking about. They were talking about her, the princess of Balandor, daughter to Queen Shizuna and King Lenard. As for where she was, she definitely wasn't in the garden. Sitting up on the balcony of the highest tower, this was her favourite spot in the entire castle and only the Archduchess Miu knew of it. Oh, and one more person, since this was his room, after all.

"Well, well, playing 'running from tutors' again, are we?"

A voice chuckled from behind. She turned around with a smile, seeing the old man walk in with a large number of books in hand.

"Eldoa! You're back!"

She jumped off the railing and ran over to give the old man a hug, or a tackle, depending whose perspective you were looking at it from.

"Oof! Hey hey, i'm not young anymore. Let me set down these books first."

The wizened man said, walking over to put the books in hand down on the table. Eldoa was the most trusted advisor to the King and Queen, as well as advising Cyrus on how to be a proper head of state. Although Cyrus was the one to receive the seal of recognition, thus making him the original 'King' of Balandor, he gave up that position to Lenard when the latter was finally to be wedded to Shizuna. Of course, Cyrus would not give up the title easily, so challenged Lenard to a duel. Though the outcome was a draw, Cyrus relinquished the title, but was given the title 'head of state', thus still retaining his power and authority to help rule and govern the Kingdom. Eldoa had some qualms about this arrangement, but later decided that it was perhaps for the best. As for this tower, Eldoa had wanted to stay in a room in a high tower, not to be disturbed by anyone but the royal family and friends. Thus the princess was allowed in.

"Your mother is going to scold me later for letting you hide up here."

Eldoa said, sitting down in this chair.

"Mother will not do anything bad to you. But besides that, what are those books for? Is it for 'that' thing again?"

She changed the subject, her eyes now sparkling with anticipation and excitement.

"Ha ha ha, yes, it certainly is."

"Tell again! Tell again about that story!"

The princess jumped up and down, anxious to listen to a story she knew well by now.

"Again? This would be the twentieth time i'm telling you this story."

"Seventeen, but who's counting. Come on, Eldoa, you promised the last time that you would tell the story to me if i finished my work."

"And did you?"

Eldoa asked, raising an eyebrow. The princess grinned from ear to ear as she produced a parchment to Eldoa. Eldoa took the paper and looked through it, smiling at the end.

"Fine, you did finish it. So... where did i leave off the last time before your mother interrupted? ... Ah yes, it was after the second dogma war. Your father was promoted to Knight escort and general of the army. Caesar was mayor with Kara as his wife. If i recalled correctly, their wedding was perhaps the most peculiar wedding i've ever seen. Strange explosions and fire works. A dragon even appeared, though that wasn't in the schedule. Defeating it in a dress, i must commend Kara for her good swordsmanship. Then shortly after came the civil war, with the unrest of the Nobles because Cyrus was given power to rule.

That was when your father led the troops to crush the rebellion. Shortly after that was the rise of the trolls, which your father also defeated. This earned him the recognition and proper respect. Of course, he was really pushing it when he proposed to Shizuna-sama, though i was surprised by the fact that Shizuna-sama actually accepted it. Anyway, Archduchess Miu had begun an attack to attack the remnants of the Magi army that your parents defeated during the second dogma war, thus your father was once again called into battle to find and wipe those-"

"Eldoa! you know i wasn't talking about this story."

The princess groaned, though she clearly enjoyed listening nonetheless.

"Hm? Don't you think that your parents' adventures are very exciting? Not to mention they are your own parents."

"That's exactly the point! Because they are my parents that i've heard nothing BUT their deeds! Everyone is telling me these stories only to make me feel like i have a lot to live up to. Or they are trying to remind me of my own place. I'm tired of it!"

The princess fumed. The old advisor thought this to be nothing new, having had to deal with this rather energetic princess more times that he could remember to count.

"Maybe they just wanted to show you that your parents are great people."

"I already know that! My parents have saved this Kingdom more times than the heroes of the past, but what i want to hear is 'that' story! The story of the unknown hero!"

The moment Eldoa heard that, his face immediately turned dark. This was not a story he liked to discuss about. No one knew about it liked to talk about it.

"The Unknown hero... How many times have i told you that story, i wonder?"

Eldoa mused with a sad smile on his lips as he leaned back in his chair.

"About seventy four."

The princess replied without noticing her story-teller's change in demeanor. For now, all she cared about was hearing the story.

"... Sigh, fine, i will tell you. Let's see... The unknown Hero. One born into this World without causing a stir. One who did not stand out, nor did anything spectacular. From humble beginnings, the soon-to-be hero faced odds beyond the capabilities and boundaries of normal people. Taking in extraordinary situations and adapting to survive, to win. A hero who did not seem to be anything special, and indeed had no ties to sin Knights and those who were bound to them. But this person was special. Not related to the Knights, yet more involved than anyone else was. A person who would guide the contractors, show them the way, give them aid, support their cause and eventually rise to the status of Hero. A person so ordinary, became someone so incredible. Known by none but those whose back were trusted upon to protect.

The one who stood not in the spot light of the adventure, but rather in the shadows. The one who guides them, the one who points the way for the others to follow, the one who protects them, the one who would accept them all for who they were. Yet, forever remain hidden from the views of others, forever unwritten in the annuls of history, forever forgotten by the lives saved. The person whom every hero of the second Dogma war trust and believes in. The hero who chose to sacrifice it all to save friends. The very name that you were bestowed upon, princess, was from that very person. Proof that your parents never forgot, nor chose to release the memories of that friend. First a friend of your father's before becoming a comrade to us all. The unknown hero, to be forever shrouded in mystery. Eclair."


	3. Chapter 3

_White Knight Chronicle_

_The Unknown Hero_

_Chapter 3_

_The young start_

Stifling a yawn, the young man stretched out on the crate. He scratched his back as the sounds of the festival preparations were under way outside the shop. Well, not that he should be bothered by something like that. That is, until a large box was dropped onto him.

"GAH!"

The sheer impact caused him to roll off the crate and dropped to the floor with a heavy thud.

"Wha- what was that for, Riasie-san? !"

He demanded, getting up to the his feet while fuming mad at the large Warg who was responsible for dropping that box on him.

"What am i doing? I could be asking you the same question. The princess's party is tonight and we've been called upon to deliver the wine."

"What? Again?"

That reply earned him a straight punch down on the head.

"OW!"

"Yes, it is 'again'. The King was once a worker at this shop. Still, this must be the reason why my uncle decided to sell this place to me at such a cheap price despite being counted on by the King himself."

"What, is it because he couldn't not handle being ordered around by his former employee?"

Another punch to the head.

"OW!"

"Not that. My uncle was really proud to have his adopted son become a King, and he even got a new house up on the noble's district because of his connection. But what he did tell me is that he lost two employees on the same day. Makes me wonder if this shop is cursed or something."

The young man sat up, rubbing the large lump on his head.

"Nah, it's not cursed, it's just your uncle's people skills that needs working-"

Another punch.

"OW! I think you need to work on your people skills too, more so than your uncle-"

A double punch to the head.

"OW! That was too much!"

"Shut your mouth and go get the wine from Parma village! If you don't make it back in time, the festivals would be all gone! Now hurry up!"

The young man groaned, getting to his feet.

"Fine, fine... i'll get going."

He shuffled his feet towards the door, but was stopped.

"Vyrix! You'll need this!"

Riasie tossed a leather bag to the young man, who caught it somewhat skillfully and took a look inside.

"... That is quite a bit of money."

"Go get yourself a decent weapon. There have been reports of increased number of monsters out in the fields lately. Better safe than sorry."

Vyrix looked at the pouch for a moment, before smiling.

"Yeah, sure thing. I'll see you tonight, then."

The young man dashed out of the shop before Riasie could say another word. The Warg sighed, shaking his head.

"Kids... they always have so much energy."

* * *

The stranger shuffled along, dressed in a dirty cloak and holding onto a large cross shaped object wrapped in cloth. Moving along with the crowd, the stranger seemed to be getting through the city gates with ease. but soon a guard noticed the small figure and walked over.

"Hey, you. What is your business here?"

The guard asked, but the stranger did not reply, continuing to walk. The guard tried once more, this time standing in front of the stranger himself.

"I asked, what is your business here?"

The security of large festivals like these were tightened by order of the head of state as well as the King, both experiencing a rather rough similar occurrence before. The stranger stood there, non-responsive to the guard's questioning, which was starting to irk him. The guard grabbed the stranger by the shoulder with a firm grip.

"You're extremely suspicious, you're coming with me-"

The stranger looked up to him and the guard immediately froze. His entire body rocked with fear as his grip loosened. The stranger had wrapped a cloth around the mouth, and with the hood, only one eye was visible. But that one eye glowed with such a dark colour of blood red, showing such power and presence that the guard was completely overwhelmed. The guard staggered back and the stranger simply bowed a little, continuing to shuffle along into the Kingdom. Another guard saw the incident and ran over to his buddy, who was still shaking with fear and sweat.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

"I-... i don't know..."

The guard answered truthfully, his voice quivering and soft.

"Who was that? Shall we get the guards to capture-"

"No!"

The shaken guard grabbed onto his friend's shoulder, shaking his head furiously.

"... Don't stop that person..."

"What?"

"I... i don't know... but i know we should not stop whatever that person is doing... Look, just forget it. Ah, the Archduchess Miu is here."

* * *

The shop to the door opened as the young man stepped in, throwing the money pouch up into the air and catching several times. The feline female of a shopkeeper noticed his actions with a smile.

"Oh, If it isn't Vyrix. So the old Riasie is finally letting you hold a weapon?"

She asked with a fanger smile.

"Yup, he's finally letting me handle to shipments, so i need a good weapon to help me with my journey!"

Vyrix proclaimed, walking over to the counter with a smug look on his face. The female Warg, however, was not so impressed.

"You mean he's finally too busy to handle shipments by himself. And what makes you think that you are going on a journey? You're only heading towards Parma village, not all the way to Greede, or Faria."

"Hey! You could at least let me dream a little, couldn't you? You're harsh as always, Tyria."

The female shopkeeper shrugged her shoulders at that.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. And don't you dare talk back to me about this. I have more experience in adventuring than you will ever accumulate in your lifetime, boy."

"You mean you're an old hag."

The moment Vyrix said that, a large axe came crashing down onto the floor next to him.

"Hm? What was that? I didn't hear you the first time, boy."

Tyria asked with a devilish smile.

"Er... nothing."

"Hmm. Well, watch what you say. I'm only a year older than you, but i've been an adventurer since i was born."

Tyria said, pulling the giant axe out of the floor with extreme ease and with only one hand.

"So, i guess you need a good weapon to help you with fighting your way to Parma village. Hmm... since you're still new, i guess this will do it."

The Warg reached under the counter and pulled out a-

"... A wooden sword. Are you serious?"

Vyrix asked, obviously pissed at this.

"I am quite serious. Don't underestimate a wooden sword, Vyrix. An extremely skilled swordsman can use a wooden sword to fell a dragon."

"Do i look like a skilled swordsman?"

"Hmm... you're right. But you're going to hurt yourself, you know."

"I'm a grown man now!"

Vyrix shouted back, making Tyria laugh.

"Alright, alright. Let's see... you'll probably want something like this, right?"

The Warg walked over to a shelf a pointed a shining silver sword with a golden hilt. Vyrix's eyes lit up immediately and he nodded vigourously.

"Hmm, i see. But this cost about 100,000 G. Do you have that much?"

Tyria asked with a smirk. That made Vyrix swallow hard. He looked back into his pouch and suddenly the amount of money inside seemed so little.

"... No."

He finally admitted his worst fears.

"Alright, so we'll start you off with something like this."

Tyria walked over a barrel that was filled with old swords and pulled out one, putting it onto the table. The blade was almost dull and there were clearly stains on both the blade and hilt.

"... Are you kidding me? This has to cost only 10G."

Vyrix said.

"Exactly, but you aren't ready to handle something that cost more than 100G. Besides, aren't you going to buy some sort of armour to wear? Don't tell me you're planning to go out wearing those thin clothes?"

"Erk... i guess you're right."

Vyrix remembered that his clothes weren't exactly 'armour'.

"You can still get a good leather armour for a cheap price."

"... Maybe some other time."

Vyrix said, suddenly remembering something. Tyria had apparently gotten the idea of what he was talking about.

"Oho? So you owe Renial money again? You are sure one big loser, having to borrow money from your own childhood friend."

"Oh can it! Riasie-san gave me the money to spend on weapons, and since i'm saving, i might as well use it for my own use."

"Alright, alright. Well, here you go. 10G please, and give Renial my regards."

* * *

With his pouch being 10G lighter, Vyrix headed over to the Southern gate, his head somewhat in the darker side of clouds as his thoughts went around about how he had to repay his loan. Unbeknownst to him, however, someone was sneaking up from behind. This unfortunate situation of him not realizing it resulted in two things. One, he was pounced upon. Two, the sheer force of the pounce caused him to fall straight to the ground.

"Er... oops?"

"... Xellia... get... OFF!"

Vyrix exploded, causing his attacker to jump off. The attacker in question was a young female Farian. Her long emerald hair tied into a tail being a dark contrast to her pale skin that her race was well known for. Her stag antlers were short and thin compared to others, but it was smooth and quite well grown which was some sort of good sign for the Farian race. Vyrix sat up, rubbing the new lump that was growing out from his forehead.

"Erm... are you alright, Vyrix? I did not expect you to fall like that."

The Farian girl admitted, bowing apologetically.

"And i wasn't expecting to be attacked from behind in the middle of city."

"Sorry about that! Say, where are you going? You even have a weapon-... Don't tell me."

Xellia's face turned serious all of a sudden when she spotted that sword by Vyrix's waist.

"Ah, this is for later. Riasie-san asked me to-"

"So you've finally snapped! You're going to kill Riasie-san!"

"Yeah, i'm going to-... wait what? ! No!"

"You've been lazy all this while and Riasie-san has been very harsh to you. I always knew you didn't like to be disturbed when taking your afternoon nap, but... THIS IS TOO MUCH! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU WOULD STOOP SO LOW!"

Vyrix jumped up and clamped Xellia's mouth shut with his hands to prevent her words from creating a commotion, though it was rather too late as tons of people now had their eyes on the two of them.

"You're jumping to conclusions!"

"..."

Xellia then smiled as Vyrix let go of his hands.

"I know you're not. I'm just joking. So? I heard that you're going to do deliveries now?"

Vyrix wanted to ask how she knew about that, but then stopped himself when he remembered something about Xellia. Xellia's parents moved here from Faria as merchants, part of the Archduchess's plan to bring the Nation of Faria and the Kingdom of Balandor closer together by opening more trade between the two countries. As such, Xellia was pretty much into the market industry as Vyrix was, though in Vyrix's case, he was merely a helper of a wine store while Xellia was the daughter of the Farian goods store. Anything that goes around in the market pretty much spreads like wild fire rather quickly.

"So? Came to see me off?"

Vyrix asked, dusting his tunic off. Xellia smiled and pointed to her quiver that was dangling behind her waist by a belt, as well as having a long sleek wooden bow in one hand.

"I'm going with you."

She replied flatly. Well, Vyrix could not really complain, since Xellia was a Farian, and Farians were pretty good with the bow. Xellia was not an exception.

"You're parents know about this?"

"Yup. In fact, they wanted me to go to Parma village anyway to check on the prices of medicinal herbs as well as the prices of fruits there."

"I see. Well, let's go then."

Vyrix knew that Xellia was lying, but he let it go, seeing as how Xellia always tapped her foot when she was lying.

"... You don't believe me, do you?"

Xellia asked as they walked down the slop towards the Southern gate.

"No, i don't."

The two friends continued their bickering as they walked, not noticing the small cloaked figure shuffing along the street in front of them till Vyrix accidentally bumped in the cloaked person.

"Woah! Sorry about that, are you alright?"

Vyrix asked, seeing the small person drop the large object wrapped in cloth they were carrying. The object fell to the floor with a loud clang, causing some to stop what they were doing to look.

"Here, let me help you-"

Vyrix reached over to pick up the large object but was extremely surprised when he found the object to be heavier than he expected. Much heavier. The stranger bent down and with one hand, grabbed the object and hefted back onto the shoulder with ease. This surprised Vyrix even more, seeing as how a stranger who was shorter than him was able to lift such a heavy object.

"Erm... are you alright? I'm sorry about before-"

Vyrix was cut short when the stranger looked up at him. Those dark red eyes seemed to stab deep within him. A strange surge started to build from within, but then it stopped.

"..."

The stranger seemed to stare at Vyrix with some interest, before turning away and walking off.

"... What was that?"

Xellia wondered out loud, snapping Vyrix out of the trance.

"I... don't know. Anyway, it's getting late. We better hurry."


	4. Chapter 4

_White Knight Chronicle_

_The Unknown Hero_

_Chapter 4_

_A close battle_

The Archduchess Miu walked into the grand hall of Balandor castle and was greeted by two rows of armed guards who stood at salute by the sides of the wide red carpet that was rolled out for her. Miu had to sigh at this since she had always asked Lenard and Shizuna to stop this grand sort of welcome everytime she came over for a visit. Well, no doubt this was Cyrus's idea. That stiff head of state was always trying to be as formal as ever. Miu walked down the aisle with her own group of armed guards, something that she also did not agree upon, but was insisted by the council members back home. This was all merely for show, however, as the nations wanted to show the other that each was still strong in their own right. Miu didn't really like all of these formalities, but since she stepped into the political World, her interests and wants were more or less suppressed.

The group procession headed down the long row all the way, and Miu spotted standing at the end of the long carpet were familiar faces who were smiling warmly at her arrival. Lenard, the old hero of the second dogma war and now King of Balandor. Older and wiser with age but still rather impulsive and his skills with a blade had not dulled once over the years. Still, Miu had to question that beard he was growing. Something about competing with Caesar or something. Men, their stupidity will cease to amaze her. It was probably as infinite and vast as the night sky. The only thing that she had wonder about was how were they going to measure and determine the winner? It wasn't as though there was an official rule or competition for the length or thickness of growth for the beard now was there? Standing next to her husband, Queen Shizuna was as beautiful as ever.

Her beauty had matured greatly over the years and her gentle and frail appearance had changed into a kind and caring feel of a mother. Miu had also grown over the years, though her height was still no where near Shizuna, something that irked her. Opposite of Shizuna, who had a child and therefore was able to experience motherhood, Miu had her hands full with just trying to make sure her nation doesn't fall into ruin. After the second Dogma war, Miu had to deal with monsters that suddenly appeared and ran rampant in the forests around Faria. Then it appeared as though there were still supporters of the extremist faction still around. That did cause a rather large set-back to creating a unified and peaceful Faria, though Miu was rather glad to be out of the room of politics for the moment and back on the battlefield to fight once more. Thus Miu had earned the nickname 'Blood Bow Miu' after the scene where she single handedly took down ten enemy knights within a short time period. Not exactly a nickname that was helping the image that she was trying to build that Faria was a peaceful nation. And it was something that Lenard and Shizuna never forgot to remind her about either whenever she ran off to play with their daughter.

"Archduchess Miu, it's good to see you again."

Shizuna bowed. From the corner of her eye, Miu could see that Cyrus was standing behind, staring intently at the entire proceedings. It must be Cyrus who was making Shizuna and Lenard act so stiffly. This isn't the first time this has happened, so Miu smiled sweetly and bowed.

"It is my honour to be invited to this auspicious event. The Nation of Faria expresses its congratulations to the King and Queen of Balandor, as well as to the people of the Kingdom for having a princess grown to such beauty reach the age of marriage-"

Miu noticed Lenard flinch when she said that. As always, the over-protective one.

"-and i would personally like to thank the Kingdom of Balandor for lending aid to Faria during last month's bad harvest. It is a debt that we shall not forget."

"It is our honour to have you as our guest, Archduchess. Our two countries can benefit a lot from each other, and so it is obvious for us to lend aid when Faria faces danger. Isn't that right, Lenard?"

Shizuna looked over to her husband, but noticed that he was still somewhat unhappy about something. Ah, it must be the nerve that Miu so tenderly struck about his daughter. As such, Shizuna raised her foot a little, and drove her high heeled shoe into his foot, causing him to nearly scream out in pain, but had to keep his mouth shut so it was a muffled scream at best.

"Am. I. Right?"

"Y-yes, of course. You are always welcome within our walls, Archduchess. Now come, you must be tired, let us continue this conversation in a more private setting."

Lenard gestured for Miu to follow and the Archduchess complied. Miu nodded to her guards and the whole group saluted her before leaving, only having three knights in full armour still following. The King of Balandor led his guest through the side hallway where the number of prying eyes were less. By now, Cyrus would be unable to stop them from doing anything they like since Lenard had given special instructions to several guards to keep him occupied when Lenard leaves the main hall. With a festival like this one, there would always be problems for Cyrus to face, no matter how prepared he is. But just to be safe, Lenard led the group into a private room, one prepared for Miu especially. Closing the door behind them, the group could finally relax, though Lenard had to wonder about the three armed guards who still followed Miu.

"... Miu, are they necessary?"

Lenard asked, causing Miu to giggle a little. This made Lenard and Shizuna slightly confused, till one of the knights walked over to Lenard and raised a hand, bringing it down on his head.

"OW! What was that for? Don't you know you just struck the King of Balandor?"

Lenard demanded. The knight simply shrugged.

"You're not yet King material, Lenard. You're still too inexperienced as shown by what happened just now. I don't know what would happen to this country if Shizuna-sama wasn't here."

The knight spoke with a rather familiar voice.

"Wait a minute... you are-"

Lenard realized who just hit him and the knight took of the helmet, revealing a young woman with slightly longer than shoulder length violet hair and a spunky smile to match her mischievous blue eyes.

"Y-Yuri!"

Lenard was surprised by his old childhood friend who was dressed in full Farian Knight armour.

"Surprised you, didn't i?"

Yuri smirked, showing a 'V' sign with her fingers.

"But what were you doing in Faria, Yuri?"

Shizuna asked, taking this slightly more calmly than Lenard was.

"Hmm, well, that is kind of a long story."

Yuri scratched the back of her head.

"Yugara-sama had sensed something amiss with Tsukihime. Yuri-san had also sensed something wrong and came to Faria to see what was wrong."

Miu explained.

"Something wrong?"

"Well, I wasn't sure what it was, and neither was Yugara-sama. However i think it could be described as... Tsukihime was calling out to me. Warning me of something."

Yuri described, taking off her armour piece by piece. She was wearing a dark green blouse with a short skirt with her usual boots under all of that armour.

"Warning you of something..."

Shizuna did not like the sound of that at all.

"And so, we decided to stop by Greede to ask Caesar and Kara if they felt anything. Maybe perhaps, we thought, that the Dragon Knight had felt something."

Yuri continued.

"And? What did Caesar say?"

Lenard asked, anxious to know.

"Well, you could ask him yourself."

Yuri turned to the other two knights, who also took off their helmets, revealing another two familiar faces. The Mayor of Greede, Caesar, and his wife Kara smiled at Lenard and Shizuna. Both being older, but still retaining that young feel that they had since young.

"Caesar! And even Kara! W-why did the two of you-"

Lenard was clearly surprised by this turn of events, making Caesar laugh.

"Lenard, you're still too many years too young if you cannot even figure out that i was one the guards."

Caesar said, patting his old friend on the back.

"I-i didn't expect Kara to do it as well! Kara! I would have thought you would have been trying to stop Caesar from doing something stupid."

Lenard turned to Kara, who could only sigh and smile sheepishly.

"I tried to, but you know Caesar, you could never stop him once he has made up his mind."

Kara explained.

"What about Grazel? Your son?"

Shizuna asked, seeing as there was no fourth knight that could be someone else in disguise.

"He's coming with the entire procession. He called my plan 'stupid' and 'shameful'."

Caesar cried, nearly on the verge of tears.

"I wonder he takes after more, this cry baby here, or Kara... wait, nevermind."

The room erupted in laughter as the conversations continued for awhile.

"So, what did you find out?"

Lenard asked.

"Hmm... we still do not know what is happening, but a large number of those portals to the other realm is starting to open up all over the place. We have also started to hear reports of people claiming to be members the Yshrenian empire coming in from a far off place. We are not sure where exactly are these people coming from, but if these reports are true..."

Caesar trailed off, not needing to finish his sentence for the rest of the group to understand what he was trying to get across.

"... The war isn't over."

* * *

Parma Village, a peaceful little place where the main exports are crops, livestocks and wine. The quaint little town was the home of one of the heroes of the second Dogma war, an expert archer known as Yuri. This was the real reason why Xellia wanted to follow, since almost every Farian knows of Yuri. Yuri and their Archduchess Miu were close friends and they were both herald as the best archers in the two countries. Yuri of the Moon from Balandor, and Miu the Blood Bow of Faria.

Legend has it that Yuri was capable of felling a horde of trolls by herself, but no one was really sure about that story, since the people who came up with that story only came across a large number of dead trolls that had a large number of arrows in them. Since Yuri was the only known archer in that area during the time when the bodies were discovered, she was automatically credited for the kills. She neither confirmed nor denied those claims. Unfortunately for Xellia, however-

"EH? ! Yuri-san isn't here? ! WHY?"

Xellia nearly burst into tears when she was told by Renial, a young village girl who lived in Parma village. A childhood friend of Vyrix, she had her long maroon hair tied into a tail, while her raven eyes simply showed some sympathy to the crying Farian archer. Dressed in a dark coloured tunic with matching pants and boots, the young woman was also somewhat disappointed by the news she just told Xellia.

"She disappeared the other day without a word. Now it's up to me to make sure Raus-san wakes up to get the shipment ready. Anyway, Vyrix, where is my money?"

The girl turned to the young man, who jumped slightly when he saw her rather angry glare. Renial was a girl whose glare could freeze even a pack of wolves. She was supposed to be an apprentice of Yuri's, working on the fields to get an idea on how things were supposed to be run. Yuri was automatically placed to be the village head, and Renial was chosen to be the successor, though there were a lot of questions with that.

Renial was an orphan of the second Dogma war and was picked up by Yuri when the latter traveled around the country in the aftermath of the war. Vyrix was an orphan as well but he was taken in by Riasie, the wine store owner. Vyrix accompanied Riasie during every shipment to Parma village, and thus met Renial. Renial was also often brought to the city as Yuri came often to visit her friends the King and Queen of Balandor. Renial and Vyrix were old friends, but Vyrix was the lazy one while Renial was the one to keep him in check, something that Vyrix never heard to end of.

"Here."

Vyrix took the pouch of money and handed it to Renial with a broken heart. Renial took the pouch and slowly counted the amount of money in it.

"... Good, looks like you're able to pay me back after all. Anyway, Raus-san is ready to go. Let's go."

Renial said, leading the way to the entrance where a large wagon full of barrels of wine pulled by a beastwain was. Sitting at the driver's seat was an old Papitaur who was starting to doze off. Renial sighed, walking off to one side and returning with a long stick. With one good whack, Raus awoke with a new lump on his head.

"Ow! That hurts, Renial-chan."

The Papitaur whined.

"I would not have to do it if you weren't sleeping."

"I swear, you're just like Yuri. I guess personality isn't just genetics."

"Just be glad i wasn't using my spear."

Renial replied, making Raus nod in cold sweat. Renial was an expert in spears and poles, perhaps with all of her work out in the fields, but it was something that did not make much sense. She was the adopted daughter and successor to Yuri, one of the greatest archers in the Kingdom and yet she was horrible at it. Instead, she had the flexibility and strength to use spears and poles as weapons. Most do not really question it, since Yuri was also somewhat proficient in using the spear. But it was something that really bothered Vyrix for quite some time. He just could not gather the courage to ask her since he was really, really afraid of her spear techniques.

"Anyway, let's go."

Renial said, shouldering the pole and walking over to the gate.

"Huh? Renial, are you following?"

Vyrix asked, making Renial turn and raise an eyebrow.

"What are you talking about? Of course i am! It's a festival, isn't it? Why shouldn't i go? Besides, if it's mother, i bet she's at the castle."

"... I see."

Vyrix decided that asking any more questions would be detrimental to his health. He looked over to Xellia and noticed that the Farian was still sobbing, her eyes now all puffy and red.

"Okay, okay, come on, let's go, Xellia. Once we get back, i'll ask Renial to get us into the castle, then you can go meet your idol, alright?"

Xellia sniffed and hicupped a couple of times but nodded, seemingly better now. Who knew that Farians were such cry babies? Or maybe it was only Xellia, since she was brought over to Balandor when she was still young. She was the left-out child since she was different from the others, but Vyrix was the first one to warm up to her. Xellia was childish and playful at heart, but she also had a weak and frail self that only her closest friends knew about. At times Vyrix wondered if Xellia was simply putting up a front with her smile, or did she really enjoy her life thus far?

"What are you doing? Hurry up!"

Renial's voice called out, making Vyrix sigh. He may be lazy, but he also over thinks too many things.

* * *

The journey was slowed as the beastwain's movement slowed whenever there were wild monsters or creatures around. Vyrix was feeling rather angry at this fact since the three of them would have to deal with those monsters before the wagon could continue moving. But he guess he should actually be thankful for it since he could use the experience of fighting, that is if he ever wanted to continue doing the deliveries. Wiping his sweat off his brow as he drew his blade out of the wild boar, Vyrix looked around to check the status of the others. Xellia was having no difficulties in shooting her arrows well, cutting down killer bees one after the other. Well, she did disturb that nest herself so she needed to deal with it.

As for Renial, Vyrix could swear that girl was stronger than anyone he knew. Piled up in a small mound were the bodies of those creatures foolish enough to face her. A boar charged at her, but even with a wooden pole, Renial's attack was strong and swift, whacking the boar on the right and left within a second. Renial spun around, jumping up into the air and bringing the pole down on the poor creature before jumping back into position and thrusting the pole straight into the head of the boar. Another victim, another carcass. Renial really showed no mercy, quite contrary to her adoptive mother who was rather carefree at most times.

"Well, let's get moving."

Renial said, dusting her hands before shouldering her pole. Renial was never feminine, something her adoptive mother always nagged her about, but it was beyond doubt that Renial was strong and she had her attitude to match. But there was something about her strong front that Vyrix knew about. It was there because she did not trust anyone. Renial was a girl who trusted no one but herself. It took Yuri five whole years for her to get Renial to open up and finally call her 'mother'. It would have lasted longer if Vyrix wasn't there to share Renial's pain.

Vyrix was the first person Renial actually told the truth to, and he was the only one Renial actually trusted besides Yuri. Even though Renial and Xellia had met a couple of times already, Renial had a certain air of dislike towards the Farian. The group continued on with their journey towards Balandor city with not much conversation going on between them. Was it such a bad mood that was going on between them? Or was it because it was already getting late and the festival was probably already underway without them. Getting over the last hill, the group could see the city already lit up with festive lights and noises.

"Oh great, we're late."

Renial grumbled, clearly not happy about something. Maybe it was that fact that Yuri had left without Renial, or maybe it was something else.

"Come on, we're nearly there."

Vyrix said, walking forward. But just as they were walking down the slope, a loud roar caught their attention. Jumping out from the trees nearby, a giant green skinned creature waved its club at them.

"A troll! What is one doing here now? !"

Xellia demanded.

"No time to ask questions, it's attacking!"

The troll reared back and swung its club down at Vyrix, who rolled to one side, avoiding certain as the club crashed into the ground and created a crater in the ground. Vyrix preferred not to think of what could have happened if he had not moved out of the way. Xellia fired several arrows in quick succession at the troll, the arrows only piercing skin deep through the tough hide. The troll roared out in anger, swinging its club at Xellia. The Farian jumped to the side, releasing another arrow into the troll's head. Renial ran one circle around the troll before charging in from the back. She smashed her pole into the back of both knees of the troll, causing the troll to fall down on one knee.

Renial landed on the floor and skidded to a halt. Xellia fired a volley of arrows across the troll and Vyrix ran up, jumping onto the troll using Xellia's arrows as steps to reach the head level of the troll before he stabbed his blade into the troll's head. The creature roared out in pain as Vyrix landed and rolled along the floor. The stab had gone in deep enough and the creature was going on a wild angry offensive, blindly swinging its weapon at them. Renial ran towards the creature and stabbed her pole into the ground, using it to launch and vault herself up to the creature's head level, pole raised overhead to smash it down on the blade Vyrix stabbed into the head.

However, just as Renial was about to deliver the final blow, the troll's swing was just about to Renial. Xellia launched five arrows in quick succession into the arm, forcing it back and allowing Renial to swing her weapon down with full force, forcing the sword deep into the skull to penetrate. But the force of the blow destroyed Renial's weapon in the process, even if the troll did fall to the ground. Renial got up from the floor from her hard fall, looking at the splintered wood in her hand. She tossed it aside, deciding that she didn't need it anymore.

"Well, that was tough, but when we work together, we can do it."

Vyrix sighed, wiping the blood from the troll off his tunic.

"But what was a troll doing here at this time?"

Xellia wondered, counting the number of arrows she had left. There weren't that many.

"I don't know, nor do i care. Come on, let's go."

Renial said, turning to go. But just as the group turned around, a sudden shudder of the ground made them stop. The troll they thought they killed got back up. It was weak, its eyes held no more life, but its wild instincts burned into its body together with its anger forced its body to get up, raising its club over them. The group had no time to react, they were caught unprepared and certain death was imminent. But it never came. A loud crash sounded out as the group saw a familiar face parrying the club's attack with a large axe.

"Yo, you kiddies were late so i came to check up on your guys."

The female Warg smirked.

"Tyria!"

Vyrix was never so glad to see the young shopkeeper in his life. Tyria gathered up her energy and pushed the club off, forcing the nearly dead troll back. Tyria readied her weapon and charged. She moved with such speed that the troll did not even recognize what had happened till five full seconds after it happened. His arm slid off his body to the ground, causing a loud thud. Tyria readied her weapon once more, before heaving one good swing, slicing the troll into two at the waist. The two body parts slid apart and the troll was only able to give a soft whimper before it was dead. Truly dead. The female Warg shouldered her weapon and walked over to the group, dusting her gloves as though what she just did was nothing at all.

"Riasie was beginning to get worried, so i volunteered. Come on, the festivals are already underway."


	5. Chapter 5

_White Knight Chronicles_

_The Unknown Hero_

_Chapter 5_

_Beginning of the End_

The group finally arrived at the castle and Raus was left incharge of dealing with the guards. Renial led Vyrix, Xellia and Tyria into the castle, though somewhat reluctantly.

"I don't really want to end up shouting at mother infront of so many important people."

Renial explained to Vyrix when he asked about it. Renial usually loses her cool often when Yuri disappears without notice. One pair of guards by the door spotted the group approaching, and barred their entry.

"I'm sorry, but only people who-"

"Oi, that's the hero Yuri's daughter."

The other guard stopped the first one before Renial really blew up.

"W-what? I-i'm sorry for my rudeness. Please, enter."

The guard bowed and stepped aside, allowing Renial and the others to enter. Once inside, however, the group was shocked in awe as the entire castle was packed with people in fancy clothes of nobles and important people. Clearly the group, who were wearing dirty clothes and smelled slightly of trolls. Renial pulled the others one side to prevent attracting a scene.

"Let's just enjoy the food and get out, alright?"

Renial hissed, clearly not comfortable in this sort of environment. the group nodded and headed towards the food table. Vyrix, however, was looking at the crowd and the decorations in the castle. This isn't the first time he came to castle, but each time he did he was thoroughly amazed by it.

"Excuse me! May i have your attention please."

A loud voice called out, causing the entire hall to become silent. Vyrix looked around the find the cause of the silence, and saw a grand figure standing by the throne. Dressed in elaborate armour, the King of Balandor, Lenard, stood next to his Queen, Shizuna-sama. Also standing up there was the Archduchess of Faria, Miu, who was dressed in the Farian ceremonial clothing. Also up there was the mayor of Greede, Caesar, and his wife Kara. That was when Vyrix also noticed someone else.

"Hey, Renial, it's your mother."

He pointed out, then realized that Renial had already seen her mother. Her face showed relief before turning into slight anger. Renial may be angry at her mother for running out without a word, but she was angry because she was worried. Renial was rarely true to her own feelings.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, i thank you for joining us for an important occasion. Today marks the anniversary of which the Kingdom of Balandor and the Nation of Faria had allied together to fight a common enemy, the empire of Yshrenia. The two countries have put aside many differences and now work together in peace."

Lenard started in his speech. Miu stepped forward to continue.

"We have faced many trials in the past, but together we have learned to overcome them by relying on each other. There is much our two countries have learned and benefitted from each other, and it is thanks to that that our two nations have prospered so. And we are happy to announce that we will continue to be allies for a long time. For our children, and for our children's children."

A round of applause sounded in the hall with some cheers.

"We are also gathered to celebrate an important date for the Kingdom of Balandor. Today marks the day where our princess, my daughter, finally reaches her coming of age."

Another round of applause when Lenard announced that.

"Ah, and here she is now."

Everyone turned to see the side doors that just swung open. Stepping through was a young woman in a snow white dress. Her long blonde hair was similar to her mother's while her facial features were a perfect mix between her mother and father. The moment Vyrix saw her, he was mesmerized. She was beautiful. A young woman whose appearance was so pure and serene that Vyrix could not look away. Accompanied by an old man that Vyrix knew as the advisor Eldoa, and a young man that some nobles in the room were whispering as 'Grazel'. If Vyrix remembered correctly, Grazel was the name of the son of the Mayor of Greede. The Mayor of Greede and his family were known to be close to the royal family as the older generation were all heroes from the Dogma war.

"So i guess that's her future husband?"

Xellia asked, chewing on some meat on a stick while peering over Vyrix's shoulder.

"That may not be so."

Renial added, sipping on some non-alcoholic drink.

"Word is that the King will not allow anyone weaker than him or the head of state to marry his daughter."

"... That's dumb."

Vyrix muttered.

"Not really, the King and the head of state are extremely strong. There aren't many who can beat them in a dual."

Tyria explained.

"Hmm... so, Grazel has to beat Lenard in order to marry the princess?"

"Word is that he isn't really all that interested in her though. They grew up together like brother and sister, after all. Not only that, but i heard that Grazel is pretty much interested in another girl."

"Heh~... wait, where did you get all of that information?"

Vyrix turned around and saw that someone rather unexpected was standing behind them. Yuri, Renial's adoptive mother was standing there with a broad smile.

"Hello Vyrix, long time no see!"

"M-Mother!"

"Shh! Not so loud! I finally managed to get away from Cyrus and his nagging."

Yuri said, capping her daughter's mouth with a hand. Yuri was dressed rather formally, not the usual way she would dress from what Vyrix could remember.

"Mother! Where did you go without telling me?"

Renial hissed, making Yuri only reply with a cheeky smile.

"Eh heh~"

"'Eh heh~' my ass! Do you know how worried i was?"

"Ah, you're worried about me? I'm touched. My daughter finally cares for me."

Yuri faked a little tear, making Renial even more angry.

"Alright, alright, i'm just joking. But really, i'm touched. I'll take you along next time, okay?"

Renial wanted to protest, but was kept silent when Yuri started to stroke her head and hold her in an embrace. This was something that Renial had no defence against.

"Anyway, we're about to be treated to something really special."

Yuri smirked. Vyrix wanted to ask what was going to happen but suddenly the loud murmuring of crowd made him turn. The crowd had formed a ring around a rather large space in the centre of the hall and standing in the ring was Cyrus, the head of state, holding onto a blade.

"What's going on?"

Xellia wondered out loud.

"Because it is the dear princess's birthday, she has reached the age to marry. As such, a lot of powerful nobles are trying to marry their familes into power by having their sons or themselves marry the princess. Unfortunately you must beat both Cyrus and Lenard to be able to be accepted. Quite a stupid event, and no doubt it will continue for years to come. Well, for now, let's just enjoy the show. I'm betting the first guy will not even last two minutes."

Yuri smiled.

"I'll bet he won't last one."

A new voice said. Turning around, the group saw that the Archduchess Miu was present, together with the mayor of Greede and his wife.

"Oho? Miu, are you really sure you want to make that wager? I wager 10,000 G for more than a minute."

Yuri pulled out a pouch giggling with gold. Miu gave a mischievous grin back and pulled out from her sleeves an even larger pouch.

"I'll wager 100,000 G for less than a minute."

"Oi oi, you two, you're betting your own town and village's lifestock here."

Caesar said, before pulling out a pouch of his own.

"50,000 G says that there will be at least one guy who can beat Cyrus."

"Caesar!"

Kara berated her husband, but it was too late.

"You're on."

Yuri smiled, tossing the pouch to Renial.

"Here dear, you'll be incharge of holding the money for us."

"Eh? Why me?"

Renial demanded to know.

"Because you're quite good at managing gold, that's why. Anyway, it's begun."

Yuri pointed back to the centre of the circle where a young man in fancy clothes stepped forward. His choice of weapon was a shining jewel encrusted weapon. In fact, it looked quite a lot like the sword Vyrix wanted to buy in Tyria's shop. As for Cyrus, he was using an ordinary long sword he borrowed from a guard.

"Now watch carefully, Vyrix. It is not the sword that makes the warrior, but rather the warrior that makes the sword."

Tyria pointed out Vyrix. The match begun and the young noble rushed at Cyrus. Even Vyrix could tell that it was the wrong move. His swings were wild and lacked both direction and power. Cyrus simply side-stepped once, swung his sword once and it caused the young man to lose his sword. The match was called right then and there.

"Good, i win. Pay up, Yuri."

Miu said, reaching out for the pouch.

"Ah, wait wait. We'll look at the average timing of all matches. Otherwise i can't bet anymore than getting Renial-chan to be angry at me."

"... You're right."

The Archduchess nodded, seemingly aware of how Yuri's daughter acts. Vyrix looked over to the throne, seeing the young princess standing with her mother in some apparent hot argument.

"Look, the next match is set."

Vyrix looked back to see a large Warg coming in, wielding a large stone piece that was shaped into a cleaver.

"A representative from a noble? That's low."

Caesar muttered.

"But that's a toy weapon, nonetheless."

Kara added, clearly not impressed by this fight. A toy weapon? That stone piece looked like it could slice through Vyrix cleanly into two. The match begun and the creature charged at Cyrus. The head of state dodged the attacks, this time having a harder time as his opponent seemed to be more skilled in their weapon than the first. A couple of times Cyrus dodged at the last minute, causing some of the crowd to go 'ooo'. Dodging the last swing, Cyrus charged in and with one swift strike, the Warg was forced to drop his weapon as his arms now had multiple cuts.

"Hmm... two minutes. Fine, i'll admit that we should look at average timing."

Miu said, making Yuri smile.

"Now we're talking. Hm? Who is that?"

Yuri noticed a group stepping into the centre. This group of five cloaked men stood there silently, drawing their weapons.

"A group attack? This isn't right. Caesar."

Yuri turned to the mayor of Greede, but he and his wife were already taking action, drawing their own weapons. It appears that Cyrus and Lenard already knew something was wrong. The five strangers suddenly attacked. They rushed forward, one of them clashing with Cyrus, forcing him into a dual while the remaining four rushed at Lenard. Screams echoed the halls as people tried to run away. Guards rushed forward but were being pushed back by the crowd of hysterical people.

"Lenard!"

Cyrus shouted in worry, but the King was able to draw his sword in time to parry the first of the attacks. Caesar and Kara rushed to the scene with their weapons drawn.

"Father! Mother!"

Grazel shouted, rushing into the fray as well. Kara tossed her son a sword and Grazel caught it, wielding it with skill.

"Miu, we should get out of here."

Yuri said. The Archduchess wanted to stay, but she agreed.

"Come kids, let's go."

Yuri wanted to lead them away, but more cloaked strangers appeared from the side halls, barring their exit. By now the entire hall had become a giant warzone as guards fought against these mysterious enemies.

"Archduchess! Here!"

One of the Farian guards threw Miu a bow with a quiver. Miu smirked, grabbing onto her own gown and tearing it off, revealing that she was wearing a light cloth armour under her elaborate gown. Miu wasted no time in notching arrows and letting them fly, felling the enemy troops one by one. Yuri spotted a sword of a fallen guard, and rushed over to get it.

"Mother! Watch out!"

Renial shouted. Yuri looked up just as a cloaked man was about to bring his weapon down on her. Yuri rolled across the floor, picking up the weapon and rolling to her feet. She slashed the sword at the enemy, felling him with one strike.

"Tyria! Where's your weapon? !"

Vyrix demanded.

"I left it at the shop! Did you really think i would bring my axe to the castle for a party? !"

Tyria shouted over the sounds of battle.

"Lenard!"

The screams from Queen Shizuna made them turn to see that the King was completely surrounded by those cloaked strangers. He was completely cut off from anyone else.

"Miu! We need to get to Lenard!"

Yuri shouted, seeing as how Caesar and his family were busy dealing with more enemies that were pouring in from the hallway.

"No! Yuri! Protect Shizuna and Eclair!"

Lenard ordered. Yuri wanted to protest, but nodded, leading Vyrix and the others to where the Queen was. For the first time, Vyrix saw the princess Eclair close up. She was really pretty and despite all of this commotion, she still remained calm. In fact, Vyrix thought he could sense the young princess being quite excited by these turn of events. Did she even understand what was going on here? No, there was fear as well, the two different emotions mixing and interloping with one another. She was afraid and excited at the same time.

"Shizuna-sama, we need to escape from here! Quick, to the sewers!"

Yuri shouted, running to the hallway that would lead them to the sewers, but more enemies came streaming in from that hallway.

"Tch, did they discover the secret passage way? Kids, stay behind me."

Yuri warned, standing between the strangers and the group.

"Mother!"

"Stay back, Renial. Let mother take care of this."

"But-"

"No 'buts'!"

Yuri shouted at her daughter as she blocked a blow from the enemy.

"We're completely surrounded."

Miu cursed, starting to feel her arrows starting to run out. Vyrix suddenly saw a group of cloaked attackers rushing at them from the back. More specifically, for the Queen and the princess.

"Watch out!"

Vyrix stood between them, but then realized that he had no weapons in his hand. The attacker's weapon was drawing closer and it looked really sharp. He was going to die. He knew it, everyone knew it. He thought back about his life. What did he achieve in his short life so far? Not much. Maybe he should not have been lazying around and done mroe work. He wanted to be an adventurer, explore new land, or maybe join the army. But he simply stayed at home, working part time in Riasie's store. He guessed in the end that was all he was worth. Everything was too late. He could not return to the past, he could not redo anything. But he guess saving the princess with his life was something that his useless life was good for. A body bag. What an ironic twist of fate. Vyrix closed his eyes, somewhat accepting his fate.

But the imminent death did not come. Vyrix opened his eyes, and saw that small throwing knives were embedded into the arms of the attackers, causing them to scream out in pain. Looking for the source, everyone saw a small cloaked figure carrying a large object wrapped in cloth rushing into the hall. A number of cloaked assailants charged at the newcomer, obviously aware that this new person is not an ally. The newcomer raised an arm whilst still running and punched each enemy who dared to stand in the path. Each punch and kick seemed carry a lot of power as the cloaked attackers were flying into the air after being hit. Literally. One attacker flew from the front of the hall all the way to the back, crashing into the wall next to the group. The newcomer jumped onto the railings by the stairs, rushing up towards where Lenard was.

Jumping high into the air, the cloaked person landed in the centre of the ring, back to back with Lenard. Raising the large cross object, the stranger stabbed it into the ground, raising the thin arms in pose that did not seem to have much muscles on them. This stranger was small, not physically built, but had the strength of a dragon. The attackers charge at the newcomer, who seemingly punched away each sword with merely fists that had armoured fingerless glvoes for protection. A flurry of kicks and punches made three enemies fly in all different directions. The remaining attackers all stepped back, afraid of what this newcomer could do. They soon reached into their cloaks and pulled out darks crystals that looked really familiar to a some people in the room.

"Gigas!"

All of the cloaked attackers all started to chant something, with the crystals in their hands glowing fiercely.

"Advant."

They chanted, before their bodies were engulfed in a dark mist. Their forms grew in size and became distorted, soon becoming large monsters that Vyrix only heard about in stories. Gigas, dark magical beasts that the user must sacrifice their souls to become. It was a forbidden technique that was said to eat the very souls of the user.

"Tch! If only i brought out the white Knight."

Lenard cursed, but the stranger placed a hand on his shoulder, shaking the head.

"What?"

Before Lenard could react, the stranger punched Lenard in the abdomen, sending him back.

"Wha- what was that for!"

Lenard demanded, but then realized that he was outside the immediate battle area. The stranger lifted the large cross and pulled the cloth aside, revealing a giant sword. The guard of the sword was so large that when wrapped up it looked like a giant cross. The cloaked figure poised the sword by the side, gathering energy before swinging the sword sideways, sending a clearly visible wave cutting through the air, slicing cleanly through two Gigas almost immediately. The cloaked person dodged a blow from another Gigas before flipping through the air and bringing the sword down straight through the Gigas. Without rest, the stranger charged straight for the next enemy, swinging the large sword with so much ease that it was rather ridiculous. The remaining Gigas fell back slightly, a strange glow emitting from the jewels in their chests.

"They're planning to combine!"

Lenard shouted. The newcomer noticed it as well, jumping just as the first of the combined Gigas brought a large fist down into the ground. A demon God came out of the dust, with eight black spider like legs, four swords attached to appendages and two additional arms. Two more of these creatures appeared, surrounding the stranger. The stranger carefully eyed the three demon Gods, before stabbing the sword into the ground and pulling the cloak aside. Who the stranger was shocked everyone. Standing there was a young woman. Dressed in a black leather armour, her long silver hair contrasted her dark blood red right eye. Her left eye being covered by an eyepatch.

"No... it can't be."

Shizuna stared at the newcomer. The young girl reached into her pouch and pulled out a small metallic ball. The ball started to glow brightly and she threw it up into the air. A large magic symbol appeared as the ball flew into the air.

"... Hen-shin."

A bright light engulfed the girl and within a flash, in her place stood a large-

"That's... that's a knight!"

One of the guards shouted. There was a mix of cheers and confusion.

"That isn't any Knight... it's an Ark-Knight. It must be her!"

Lenard said with some joy in his tone.

"But that shape is-"

This Knight that the young girl transformed into had armour as black as night. With large black scaled wings, it looked very much like pictures Vyrix had seen of the Sin Knight called the Dragon Knight. But black in colour. Not only that, but this Knight was wielding a large double bladed weapon, much like the stories told of the Sun Knight. The black Dragon knight raised its weapon and disappeared, reappearing behind the first demon God. The demon God wanted to turn around, but found that only its legs turned, while the top half of the body still stayed in one place. Without anyone able to see it, the Knight had sliced the demon God into two.

The black Dragon Knight raised a hand to the second demon God and from the hand a bow appeared. The dragon knight used the double bladed weapon as an arrow and drew it with the bow, firing it at the second demon God. The weapon pierced the enemy easily and crashed into the wall. The last demon God looked in fear and tried to flee, but the black dragon Knight raised a hand, a large trident appearing in its hand. With one good throw, the trident pierced the enemy from the back, sending it flying out of the castle. For now, the battle seemed to have been won. But while the guards and others were celebrating, the Dragon Knight turned to the group. It reached down and snatched away-

"The princess! It's got the princess!"

The guards suddenly realized that this Knight was perhaps not an ally after all as they rushed in with their weapons, but Lenard stopped them.

"Why are you doing this? ! You disappeared for years and we would all think you to be dead! Why appear before us now? And what is that form!"

Lenard demanded to know from the large Knight.

"I know that is you! Answer me! What do you plan to do with my daughter! Eclair!"


End file.
